Namdaemun (South Gate)

Monday, April 18, 2011...

After going to ESWS, stopping for some lunch, and hitting up Kyobo...we decided we should make the trek to Namdaemun. It's one of my favorite places and I just couldn't go to Korea and not stop there. Here's the post from our trip for Lily. Lots of great pictures on that trip...not so many from this trip.

I've got a good reason. It was cold and it was rainy. Not great picture-taking weather and not great shopping weather either...but I had a shopping list with me and I wanted to spend some won.

So we hurried through the stalls and stalls of vendors looking for all things I could cross off my list.

Even in the cold, damp weather, there are people everywhere.

It wasn't long until we were having to hide under awnings to stay dry. And since they sell everthing and anything at Namdaemun, there is also an umbrella stand. We bought one. I'm sure we were quite the site trying to huddle underneath it together trying to protect our packages from being drenched.

We decided that we were hungry again and that warranted some great yakimandu. It was time to head to restaurant row.

Now restaurant row is a site to behold. It's not for the squeemish. It's for the adventureous. And I...well, I love it. It's just unlike anything I've ever seen.

There are small restaurants on either side and they have bowls and bowls of entrees setting out. A lot of times they are wax replicas of the real thing...and sometimes, it's the real thing.

Yes, my husband snapped this just after I had stuffed a whole mandu in my mouth...but never mind me...just look at how good that kimchi looks. (That's the red, spicy stuff)

 

 

The clock in the background said 5:07pm. We left the hotel around 10am that morning...we were putting in a full day around Seoul, that's for sure. Who wouldn't need some sustinance?

There are the familiar items...(I made him take another picture...one without me looking piggish.)

And then the not-so-familiar items...

Can't say it's not fresh, now can you?!?

And, no, we did not eat that. Nor did we eat any of the bubbling hot pots of silkworms. Bet you wish you could see a picture of those babies, huh?

All in all, it was a great day spent getting things to bring back to the states with us. It was a busy day which is exactly what I needed. A day of hustle and bustle...activities to make the day go faster...cause the very next morning...

we were going to meet our daughter for the very first time.